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Fytakyte - Bitter - Updated Mix3a
#11
Hi MITC, thanks for putting the time in to post such an accomplished and polished mix.

I really love a lot of things about your mix. The vocal and guitar sounds, and the sense of ambience in particular. The whole mix gels together very well. The critical midrange elements are handled beautifully, and the bass sounds tight. The highs are bright and present, yet smooth.

I liked the way you featured the different parts and used them to build the long term dynamics of the track. Even though I see you claim to be puzzled at the structure of the production, it seems to me from your end result here that you fundamentally and intrinsically understood the function of each of the provided tracks, and the direction they were pointing your mix in.

The only things I'm not really keen on are the kick and snare sounds. Possibly a matter of personal taste here, but I find the snare a little too "rim-shot" sounding, with a really prominent transient, but without any substantial sustain. That, along with the very clicky sounding kick tend to give me the impression of a drum kit that is slightly dinky and "small". Drum sounds are a very personal preference thing, so as I said, it probably comes down to taste.

Overall, really great stuff!

Quote:I wonder if I am the only one though who is a bit confused by the author's reference to choruses in Bryan Adams and Tom Petty songs. I did not understand the reference considering the chorus of the Bryan Adams song had no background vocals and the Tom Petty song was a call and answer chorus. What am I missing?

Both of those references were pointing to the similarity in the driving feel and the choppy chordal sequences of the choruses overall, and not specifically to the vocal harmonies. I hope that explains it... That said, I should point out that "Bitter" does also does have "answering" vocals in the chorus: the "comfortable in my skin" part.

Quote:I still say I hear some "Cars", at least in the chorus.

Roy is right on the money there. I love The Cars. That's probably where the "big harmonies" influence came from... that and older 70s stuff like The Little River Band and Fleetwood Mac. Later 80's "Big Hair" stuff just never figured in my listening... particularly being from Australia, we had so much other great stuff happening here that was a little more...real. Of course, our ol' mate expatriate Ricky Springfield was unavoidable on the radio with his "Jessie's Girl", but I never really liked it, and certainly didn't listen to any of his other music.

It's always weird having people who don't know you, your tastes or your background commenting on (what they perceive) your preferences and influences to be. It's almost like a strange out-of-body experience, in a way... Like viewing yourself in the 3rd person...

Much of the stuff that influenced me musically was part of the Australian experience. Due to the tyranny of distance that existed in my formative years, that was wholly different from what most people in the US or the UK experienced. I often deliberately use US or UK references to try to relate to more people when describing my influences, because if i used the Australian references, for the most part they would be meaningless to the majority of people here.

Quote:Have you had a chance to listen to any of the artist's other material? I followed his links and found out his other material is incredible. More Zappa-ish than anything else and brilliant stuff, excellently crafted and mixed.

Cool, so glad you had a listen to the other stuff too and dug it. Zappa is another dude I've never listened to, to be honest! You're certainly not the only one who has mentioned Zappa with reference to my music, though. I've heard a few of his tracks, but I never had any albums or studied his work. I'm sure it's great, but it just never really appealed to me.

Quote:"Most people, only stop drinking, when there's nothing left in the cup"...
Profound, huh? For me, I just like to keep sucking from an empty cup in the impossible hope that it may magically fill again.

Haha, I can understand why that line might sound stupid. Taken out of context, it is stupid, in fact. I don't mind that. I'd venture to say that it is deliberately stupid. The couplets surrounding it point to a consumptive, unthinking existence that takes everything at face value and never bothers to dig beneath the surface. Who says the "cup" is literal? So there is some irony in taking that line at face value as wellWink. "Context is everything" as they say, and that is definitely the case here.

Quote:Would have loved to get my ears on some of those songs.


Ask and ye shall receive - there are more FytaKyte multitracks on the way!

Quote:I get the impression he posted this one with Mike because even he couldn't come up with something he liked!

Au contraire!... I was actually very happy with the song and my mix of it. I simply put it up first because it is the first song off my album. Could the song and mix be better? Without a doubt!... but it is what it is, and I was just happy that I finished it!

Quote:Load bearing guitars.


Yup, you get it - I love that phrase! I shall use it again, I'm sure.

Thanks again for taking the time to mix the track so well, and also the interesting and sometimes enlightening commentary!
All 10 FytaKyte Multi-Tracks available for you to mix with purchase of Album here: https://fytakyte.bandcamp.com/releases
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